


We're Whittled Away By Zeroes Won

by periwinklepromise



Series: WinterIron Week 2019 [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes as Tony Stark's PA, F/F, Fem!Tony, Iron Man 1, No disrespect to Pepper Potts, Pining, fem!Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-20 14:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19994014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: Jamie Barnes looked at her boss's tousled, almost greasy hair in dismay. “How long have you been down here?”“That depends.” Toni turned to face her fully, showing smudged mascara  and smeared engine grease ringing exhausted, red-rimmed eyes. “What day is it?”





	We're Whittled Away By Zeroes Won

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "Bad timing?"

“Miss Stark, we really do need to discuss the board meeting.”

Toni Stark just rolled her eyes and brushed off the idea. “You go for me, you already do everything for me.”

“Everything except showering,” Jamie Barnes reminded her boss, looking at her tousled, almost greasy hair in dismay. “How long have you been down here?”

“That depends.” Toni turned to face her fully, showing smudged mascara and smeared engine grease ringing exhausted, red-rimmed eyes. “What day is it?”

“It's Thursday.” Jamie marched over to Toni and smacked her hands away from her head. “Sit still and let me fix this.” She only had a fine-tooth comb in her purse for her own hair, and Toni's hair had a much fuller body, so she reverted back to relying on her fingers to tease out the more ominous tangles. After fishing out a ponytail holder, she quickly pulled the mass to the base of Toni's neck, reined it over to one side, and began a quick braid down to … to the end of Toni's hair. Which ended close to her breasts, in braided form. 

“The board meeting is tomorrow at ten. It is _imperative_ that you be there. You have to prove you did not lose all sense of sanity in Afghanistan. Sending me in your stead does not do you any favors, and you know it.”

Toni sighed. “I know. I'll go.” Then her brow furrowed. “What's that?”

“That! Oh, right. Yes.” Jamie really did get lost after fawning over _her boss_. “Well, after yesterday-”

“And thank you for that, by the way,” Toni interjected quickly.

“You should have _asked_ me before disconnecting your own heart and calling for me! _Bad timing?_ Bad timing is not an appropriate-” Jamie took a deep breath to calm herself. That wasn't the point. “I know you wanted me to throw it out, but I thought you might like to keep it. It was a part of you. Maybe it still is.” She slid the display case over to Toni. 

She could see the moment Toni finished reading the inscription, because she grimaced and then struck her with a very unimpressed look. “ _Proof that Toni Stark has a Heart?_ Are you kidding me?”

“No. I'm not. I am very aware that you have a heart. My hand was not two centimeters away from it yesterday. But I think you've spent your whole life listening to total blowhards who told you to act more like a man to be worthy of respect. But you don't. You don't have to sleep around, and you don't have to drive recklessly, and you don't have to build bigger and bigger pieces of penis-compensatory weaponry. You can just be yourself.” 

Toni tried to scoff, but Jamie insisted, “You can.”

“Like you're _your_ self? _Jemima_?” Toni's barb was compensating, she was always compensating for something, some imagined inferiority. Jamie's best friend growing up had been a girl with the same kind of fearful but insistent defiance; she knew that look anywhere.

“My name is Jemima Buchanan Barnes. I'm the best personal assistant anyone has ever seen. And I'm in love with you.”

All the enmity in Toni deflated. _"What?"_

“That's me. That's who I am. Now you have to figure out who _you_ are. And don't forget about the board.” She stomped off then, to go answer about a hundred emails still waiting for responses “from” Toni Stark. _Pulling out her first name like that,_ she grumbled to herself. _What kind of woman was she in love with, anyway?_

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to a quick, little thing, but now ... I'm thinking I may eventually have to expand this? We'll see


End file.
